Best wood stove (Bozeman: appliances, big house, to buy)

[AsForMeAndMyHouse]

This is kind'a pole. In your opinion, what is the best and most efficient wood stove to buy? I am going to be getting a couple for my 4000 sqft. house. It won't be the only source of heat, but I would like to heat as much of my house with wood as possible.

Thx.

[seven of nine]

that's a big house, (bump)

[bigtrees]

My favorite is a Quadrafire Wood Fireplace, one of the few EPA certified fireplaces in the industry. It's beautiful and provides a ton of heat. If you're interested you can connect it to ductwork and try to move the heat to other rooms in your house.

Like the other poster said, though, 4000 square feet is too large to heat on wood in a practical sense. Wood heat tends to only heat in one room and it's hard to get the heat to the other rooms, so you roast in the living and freeze in the bedrooms. Plus, it's always out by morning so you wake up to a freezing house.

You'll probably want 3 or 4 wood stoves / fireplaces depending on your house design.

It's sure fun at Christmas.

[seven of nine]

Originally Posted by AsForMeAndMyHouse

This is kind'a pole. In your opinion, what is the best and most efficient wood stove to buy? I am going to be getting a couple for my 4000 sqft. house. It won't be the only source of heat, but I would like to heat as much of my house with wood as possible.

Thx.

Can I ask what climate you are coming from?

[bigtrees]

I believe he (she) is moving from Phoenix, AZ.

[seven of nine]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

I believe he (she) is moving from Phoenix, AZ.

We must acclimate this one.That is alot of firewood even if you only have one stove, how is the fire danger in the area spoken of. I know that would be a consideration. Many here on my side are going propane due to the oil cost. Good luck and post a pic of your house if you want to share.

[AsForMeAndMyHouse]

hahah!!! Yeah, I'm moving from one extreme to the other! We still are having 100-degree days this week in Phoenix. It's not that bad until it gets above 107 or so. But even still that's doable. After 115 it's just plain miserable!

We moved from a snowy climate to Phoenix and it took 2 years for us to get used to it. At first I had to have the AC turned down to 67 or so during the summer, but after paying a $500 electric bill a few times, we have been able to creep it up to 82 in the summer!

I think we will be able to adjust, but it might take a little while since our blood has thinned out (an Arizona cliche).

I'm not planning on heating the whole house with a stove (or even two), but just having it going during the day to supplement some electricity is about the extent of my endeavor.

At the same time, though, I want the stove to be as efficient as possible, hence my original question.

Thanks!

[bigtrees]

The QuadraFire wood fireplaces are some of the most efficient on the market. They advertise 78% efficiency, which rivals gas appliances.

[AsForMeAndMyHouse]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

The QuadraFire wood fireplaces are some of the most efficient on the market. They advertise 78% efficiency, which rivals gas appliances.

Thanks, I checked out their site and they do have a lot of nice stoves!

Here's a question that may get varied answers. Which is better, catalytic or non-catalytic?

Is that like a Ford vs. Dodge question?

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

Like the other poster said, though, 4000 square feet is too large to heat on wood in a practical sense. Wood heat tends to only heat in one room and it's hard to get the heat to the other rooms, so you roast in the living and freeze in the bedrooms. Plus, it's always out by morning so you wake up to a freezing house.

Not if I banked the fire it's not One year in Bozeman, with my little itty bitty coal stove (with a firebox about the size of a large shoebox) I had a fire continuously for 5 months without needing to restart it -- banked at night and when I went to town. It's a black art, but after the first time you wake up to ten below zero in your house, you get motivated to learn it

Goes to show how warm my bed was ... I didn't know how cold it was in my trailer til I got out of bed! Normally if it was in the -40 range outside at night, it was around 35-40 in there in the morning, and just enough hot coals left to rebuild the fire for the day without having to start from scratch. This actually saved a lot of wood and coal since it takes less to keep a steady fire than it does to restart from a cold stove and a cold house.

At my last place here in SoCal, the heat was by woodstove (couldn't tell you if the propane furnace in that house worked, cuz I never used it I put a big fan in front of the stove, blowing up at the chimney, and that blew heat all over the house (as well as keeping the chimney temp down -- it was prone to get too hot otherwise). I do that with my propane wall furnace in this place, for the same two reasons. I have a couple little fans strategically placed to move warm air down the hallway, too. In summer, the same fans serve to blow cooler air around the house. It's cheaper to run the fans than to run extra heat or cooling.